1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coupling assembly and, more particularly, to a coupling device for interconnecting a dialyzer reprocessing system to a dialyzer blood port.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is significant concern about possible cross-contamination of dialyzers that are being reprocessed if the blood port connector on the reprocessing machine is not adequately disinfected between uses. Many conventional dialyzer reprocessing systems use a luer/tubing connector to connect the blood line thereof to the dialyzer blood port. This connector is generally not removed from the reprocessor tubing and, therefore, disinfection is typically limited to wiping the connector with disinfectant. In addition, the tubing must be twisted in order to thread the connector onto the luer connection of the dialyzer blood port.
Some reprocessing systems provide a quick connect/disconnect coupling on the blood line thereof. Conventional quick connect/disconnect couplings are adapted to interconnect tube segments and thus use conventional tubing connectors. See in that regard, U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,725, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference. Therefore, a conventional quick disconnect can only be used to interconnect a quick connect/disconnect equipped reprocessor to the luer fitting on the dialyzer if additional tubing is used to connect the quick disconnect to a luer/tubing connector that is in turn connected to the luer connector of the dialyzer. This additional tubing means that there are additional parts that must be disinfected and the tubing must still be twisted to thread the luer connector onto the dialyzer port. In addition, the cost of multiple sets of the removable portion, i.e. the tubing with connectors on both ends, makes disinfecting by removal and soaking impractical. Therefore, providing a quick disconnect coupling on the blood line does not solve the problem of improving disinfection and simplifying attachment to the luer connector of the dialyzer.